| TITLE: | Magnetic resonance
imaging of the thoracic spine. Evaluation of asymptomatic individuals.
| AUTHORS:
| Wood KB; Garvey TA;
Gundry C; Heithoff KB
| AUTHOR AFFILIATION:
| Department of
Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55407, USA.
| SOURCE:
| J Bone Joint Surg Am
1995 Nov;77(11):1631-8
| CITATION IDS:
| PMID: 7593072 UI:
96075588
| ABSTRACT:
| We reviewed magnetic
resonance imaging studies of the thoracic spines of ninety asymptomatic
individuals to determine the prevalence of abnormal anatomical findings.
This group included sixty individuals who had no history of any thoracic
or lumbar pain and thirty individuals who had a history of low-back pain
only. In addition, we reviewed imaging studies of eighteen patients who
had an operatively proved herniation of a thoracic disc and studies of
thirty-one patients who had been seen with thoracic pain. Sagittal
T1-weighted spin-echo and axial multiplanar gradient refocused images at
each disc level were interpreted by us (two neuroradiologists and two
orthopaedic spine surgeons); we had no clinical information about the
patients. Sixty-six (73 percent) of the ninety asymptomatic individuals
had positive anatomical findings at one level or more. These findings
included herniation of a disc in thirty-three subjects (37 percent),
bulging of a disc in forty-eight (53 percent), an annular tear in
fifty-two (58 percent), deformation of the spinal cord in twenty-six (29
percent), and Scheuermann end-plate irregularities or kyphosis in
thirty-four (38 percent). This study documents the high prevalence of
anatomical irregularities, including herniation of a disc and deformation
of the spinal cord, on the magnetic resonance images of the thoracic spine
in asymptomatic individuals. We emphasize that these findings represent
roentgenographic abnormalities only, and any clinical decisions concerning
the treatment of pain in the thoracic spine usually require additional
studies.
| MAIN MESH HEADINGS:
| Intervertebral
Disk/*pathology | Spinal Diseases/*pathology Thoracic Vertebrae/*pathology ADDITIONAL MESH
HEADINGS:
| Adolescence | Adult Aged Aged, 80 and over Analysis of Variance Chi-Square Distribution Female Human Intervertebral Disk Displacement/pathology Likelihood Functions Logistic Models Magnetic Resonance Imaging Male Middle Age Observer Variation Prevalence Scheuermann's Disease/pathology Spinal Diseases/epidemiology Spinal Osteophytosis/pathology 1995/11 1995/01 00:00 PUBLICATION TYPES:
| JOURNAL ARTICLE
| LANGUAGES:
| Eng
| |
|---|
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